Stuck In Poverty Amid Signs Of Recovery

Posted September 22nd, 2013

By Hansi Lo Wan and Maria Peñaloza

For the third year in a row, the poverty rate has remained stuck at about 15 percent. Nearly one in six Americans was living in poverty in 2012, according to by the Census Bureau. Despite a slow-moving economic recovery, these latest numbers show that for poor Americans, there are few signs of any recovery.

Fatima Goss Graves, who tracks poverty and employment stats at the National Women’s Law Center, called the poverty numbers a “disaster.” She’s seen the same dynamics facing the most vulnerable group in the American economy since the end of the recession.

That group, according to the Census Bureau, includes more than 46 million people living at or below the poverty line, which the federal government defines as a family of four making $23,283 a year or less, not including government benefits like food stamps.